When the New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys play a football game in Shreveport's Independence Stadium on Monday, the city's take from the game will be all in exposure.

"I think the opportunity for us to showcase our city and region is tremendous with this being on ESPN," says Ken Antee, Shreveport's chief administrative officer.

The city receives exposure annually from ESPN with television coverage of the Independence Bowl. However, the Monday night NFL game figures to be seen in more homes than the Independence Bowl. Last year's Independence Bowl had a 2.75 television rating. ESPN had a 4.5 rating for its Monday night game earlier this week between Oakland and Minnesota.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated areas -- including New Orleans -- a year ago, the city made an offer to the Saints, Tulane and the Louisiana High School Athletic Association to hold events at the stadium for no cost.

The Saints didn't take up the city's offer then, playing home games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge as well as one game at Giants Stadium.

The city made basically the same deal with the Saints for this Monday night game, where Shreveport will provide personnel to handle ushering duties and similar tasks. The Saints will receive all ticket revenue except for admission to one of the stadium's new suites.

The Superdome will not be ready for play until the Saints' home opener on Sept. 25.

"This is not a normal situation where you play games outside of your territory like the Superdome," Saints owner Tom Benson said earlier this year. "In years past, all of these games would have been played there."

Parking is being handled in a separate agreement between the Saints and the State Fair of Louisiana.

The contract was not finalized until late last week.

The agreement between the Saints and the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Miss., where the team will play an exhibition game against the Indianapolis Colts, is similar except for one tax provision.

Both sites had sold in the low- to mid-30,000s in tickets as of the first few days of the month. Ticket sales for Shreveport's game were at 36,804 by late Tuesday afternoon.

"We have them in training camp here, and we've had a steady stream of people this week," Whatley said. "I hope to get over 50,000, and if we don't, yes, I would be disappointed.

That game will feature Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, son of Ole Miss product and former Saints great Archie Manning.

"You can't ask for a better matchup than we've got," Whatley says.

Whatley was mildly surprised at the length of time it took Shreveport and the Saints to finalize their financial agreement, but he said the stadium setup there involves only a five-member board and makes for quick negotiation.

Antee says the crux of the agreement was reached quickly with the Saints but final wording was hindered by training camp.

"We've had all the basics to the contract agreed to since right after (the game was announced)," Antee says. "They've been busy with training camp, and there've been no issues."

Both teams are expected to stay in town on Sunday night and leave immediately after the game, meaning some hotel use for local business.

The contract calls for all financial matters to be settled by Oct. 1.

Antee was not able to provide a number at this point for the city's anticipated expenses.